Samsung UN55KS9500 vs UN55KS8500 Review : What are differences?

Samsung UN55KS8500 and UN55KS9500 are equally part of Samsung’s 2016 SUHD TV lineup that comes with curved panel. One of the flagships of both is their great HDR performance where they are compliant with Ultra HD Premium certification, an award for HDR TVs which meet all of the minimum standardization of HDR 10 set by UHD Alliance But unlike other model of premium TVs from other manufacturers, both of them are not equipped with 3D technology. While LG and Vizio HDR TV already support both HDR formats, HDR 10 and Dolby Vision, both both of Samsung UN55KS9500 and UN55KS8500 support HDR 10 only. But even so, considering they are certified by Ultra HD Premium which guarantees great HDR performance offered by them, both Samsung UN55KS950 and UN55KS8000 certainly are serious TVs for you who care about HDR performance. To know a lot about performance offered by them, you can read Samsung UN55KS9500 Review here or Samsung UN55KS8500 Review here.

Additionally, although both of them equally certified by Ultra HD Premium, but they are sold with a significant difference in price that is about $700 where UN55KS9500 is sold about $2000 while UN55KS9500 is sod $700 cheaper. But of course, their price is not fixed and could still change at any time and usually will tend to go down as time goes by.

The differences between Samsung UN55KS9500 and UN55KS8500

As we see on comparison table above, there are some points of differences between Samsung UN55KS8500 and UN55KS9500 included the level of UHD Dimming, the level of Motion Rate technology and their sound system. About the impact that resulted caused this different level of these technologies, let’s discuss a lot below.

Supreme UHD Dimming vs UHD Dimming

Talking about the difference between Samsung UN55KS9500 and UN55KS9000, this is similar to talking about the differences between UHD Dimming and Supreme UHD Dimming by Samsung, because indeed it is their major differences. UHD Dimming is not the same as local dimming function like Samsung’s precision black technology. Samsung UHD Dimming is a software picture circuit that analyses the picture in the certain amount of zones and then adjust the brightness accordingly. With other words, local dimming uses the approach to hardware while UHD Dimming uses the approach to software. Meanwhile, the difference between Supreme UHD Dimming and UHD Dimming is about the amount of zones where Supreme UHD Dimming comes with more zones than UHD Dimming. And the result, Samsung UN55KS9500 offers deeper blacks and brighter whites that course make the picture produced also look more brilliant. But unfortunately, how many zones of each of these technologies, there is no definitive information from their official websites.

Supreme Motion Rate 240 vs Motion Rate 240

Motion Rate is the technology that combines Refresh Rate Panel, backlight scanning, and video processing speed for minimizing motion blur when they are displaying fast motion images. It is similar to Sony Motion Flow, LG TruMotion, or Vizio Clear Action technology. The level of Supreme Motion Rate certainly is a higher than Motion Rate 240. But even so, both of these technologies based on the same native refresh rate panel that is 120 Hz. But this means the differences between Supreme Motion Rate 240 and Motion Rate 240 is not too major considering the most important aspect for minimizing blur is about native refresh rate panel. Unfortunately, there is no detailed information from their official websites about their difference. But certainly, Supreme Motion Rate 240 offers better performance when handling motion blurs than the Motion Rate 240, though their differences might not be too noticeable for untrained eyes.

Sound Quality

The other difference between Samsung UN55KS9500 and UN55KS8500 is about their built-in audio system. Samsung UN55KS9000 is equipped with 4.1 channel speaker system with 60 watts total power output while UN55KS8500 is equipped with 2.1 channel speaker system with 40 watts total power output. With excellence in the number of speakers, UN55KS9500 offers better frequency response than UN55KS8500 that makes its sound quality is also better. Bu even so, sound quality offered by UN55KS8500is less impressive than UN55KS95000, it is still above average than sound quality offered by most of TVs that available in the market. But even so, although sound quality offered by can be said good for slim TV, for you who care about sound quality, you still need an addition external sound bar to get better sound experience.

Performance of Samsung UN55KS8500 and UN55KS9500

We will not discuss a lot about their performance because we have discussed in detail about performance of UN55KS8500 in here and performance of UN55KS8500 here. But essentially, both Samsung UN55KS9500 and UN55KS8500 are very strong in picture quality and other features that offered. As the note, in processing HDR, both of them only support HDR 10 formats and don’t support HDR 10 and Dolby Vision like LG and Vizio HDR TV.

Although both of Samsung UN55KS9500 and UN55KS8500 are sold with a considerable difference in price, but performance which offered is virtually identical. As a higher series, UN55KS9500 might offer slight better picture quality but their difference is not too significant, let alone for untrained eyes. Separated from their differences, picture produced by both UN55KS9500 and UN55KS8500 is absolutely amazing. This is indicated by certified Ultra HD Premium by UHD Alliance which guarantees great HDR performance offered by them. Meaning, both of them are able to display HDR 10 format fully without any issues in contrast or color. Black level reached by them is very deep where there are not many other TVs that can beat it, as well as peak brightness reached by them, they are also including the brightest TVs in 2016. Additionally, with Quantum dot panel behind them, they can deliver about 95% of DCI P3 color space, a wide color gamut reached by a TV.

As we have discussed a lot about UN55KS9500 in here and UN55KS8500 in here, in addition superior picture quality, both of them also offers great performance on some features that offered by them, great UHD Up-scaling, Great Motion and 24p Handling, Low input lag, and attractive smart TV platform. But beside great performance on some features that offered, viewing angle and 3D technology becomes their big downside as TVS that offer premium picture quality.

Conclusion

Which is a better choice between them? As mentioned, in the market, Samsung UN55KS9500 is sold slightly less than $2000 while UN55KS8500 is sold about $700 cheaper. And a $700 is for the differences like we have discussed above. Now the decision comes back to you. If you have extra money and don’t mind to spend $700 more of your money to get a better experience in enjoying 4K home entertainment, of course UN55KS9500 is a better choice. But if your budget is limited, UN55KS8500 is also not a bad choice. You can save $700 of your money while performance offered not far below. But even so, before you decide to choose one of them, there are a lot of user opinions from each of their real customers that you can make as your further consideration.

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